Sew Sunshine

                                                                                 I wanted to finish some UFO's for the fair this year. Deadline is motivation. I pulled out this piece that I made as a qal.. The pattern is by Southern Charm Quilts and the qal is  HERE It was such a fun quilt to make and I used tons of colors and scraps to make this. Since the quilt is made in alternate grid style it was fun to put together.  I did a simple diamond style quilting over the blocks. There is some applique, some paper piecing, curves  and regular piecing.  60" x 70"  I got a red on it. 

Scrappy Diamond was in the works for a while.  I started cutting up squares from my bigger (and getting tired of using the same fabric) stash pieces. I had an abundance of low volume fabrics too so it was easy to plop them together and just make HSTs.  This layout is super fun to make by the way. 64 x 80" approx. I used up a bunch of the HSTs on the back and it worked great to piece the back with them! Plus I finished 13 receiving blanket/play mats from my flannel stash (still have) and dropped them off with the baby flannel blankets from previous post.  linking up with  Wendy  Peacock party Finish or not Friday with   Alycia Quilts Confessions of a Fabric  Addict 2023 Quilt parade: Midnight Mystery UFO 2016   Baubles quilt and  book review  for Kelly Young Fun Flannel  3 Flannel quilts , 2 homeless pillows and a Tilda Cow Sundown on Scraps  a scrap art quilt  and kit recycle bags/pillows Scrappy  strips throw 2 ...

This quilt was finished earlier this summer for the book release by Kelly Young.  It's the Midnight Mystery qal quilt by  Meadow Mist designs  back in 2015.  I had the top and some of the fabrics tucked away ready to sew up a back. But I put it away. Here is the top from Jan of 2016. It was a perfect UFO to finish using Kelly Young's new book  Perfectly Pieced Quilt Backs .  I used 2 pieces of fabric that matched up and found another in my stash by the same designer. I had a half of a block so might as well use it up. I think it turned out pretty good and looks intentional which is the beauty of the book ideas for piecing backs.  I am so happy to have finished an old UFO. Previous  post  Linking up with Cheryl @  Meadow Mist Design  for Favorite Finish 2023 Quilt parade: Baubles quilt and  book review  for Kelly Young Fun Flannel 3 Flannel quilts , 2 homeless pillows and a Tilda Cow Sundown on Scraps  a scrap art quil...

UFO no more! I went looking in my stash for fabric for a backing for a quilt I am working on between Project Quilting. I saw an odd print in a bag and thought it has some different colors in it..I sat looking at it then thought wonder if it would go with a quilt top I made .........um, in 2014 HERE  as a QAL for Sharon  @Colorgirl quilts   I completed the quilt top back then and promptly folded it up and put away. It has lots of bias pieces and probably one of my first serious attempts at sewing lots of curves. All in all it was not too bad. The borders of Kaffe scraps was fun to do but a bit tricky to sew a curve onto.  I'm really going to call it 'Winners Circle' even though the pattern is Polka Dot Bikini. I really felt like a winner today sewing on the label. I mean 9 years in the making!! Woohoo Approx. 64" x 64" simple cross grid quilting I am so happy that I took the moment and just finished this little one. I hope you feel like a winner with whatever you a...

A finish at last! I knew I should be spending some of my quarantine time finishing some of my UFO quilts. I started the year out so great and then you know how it went.  With some recent eye problems my great start to the year of UFO finishing was halted. I had a great opportunity to get a big quilt quilted on a longarm at my local Bernina shop so I jumped at it.  One weekend I found this quilt top in my UFO stack and thought it would make a great graduation gift. I only had to find enough fabric to make a back as I have not been buying anything and trying to use up my stash. After much searching I was able to find enough pieces that worked well with these great colors. Lots of orange, coral, red, and pinks...so lovely together.  This quilt pattern is by Alyce from  Blossom Heart Quilts  called Double Dash. I tested this quilt for her last year and got the top done from black and white prints and many scrap solids from my stash.  It measures 90" x 90" ish s...

I am not even sure when this little quilt was started. I know I had access to an Accuquilt machine at a local sewday. I cut out the circles and fusible circles too. I got home and started using some fancy stitches on my sewing machine to go around the edges.  I also remember taking them to a sew day at our county fair to sew on while being in the Quilts for Kids booth. The year? I am not sure.  I am pretty sure this quilt did not want to be finished. I found the blocks when looking for materials to make masks out of.  I thought, I can sew this up quickly. I did, and then I pressed it and then had to sew the whole thing again because my antique iron melted the thread in about 75% of it. Yes melted. I could see the thread go from shiny to dull and then I rubbed it. The thread actually came up from one side like tiny beads on a strand. So very odd. I have used that thread since and the same iron and nothing?? My sewing room in disaster mode!!! ha An...

                                                     "Wherever the Wind Blows"  a study of positive and negative space 42.5" x 32.5"  Back at the beginning of the year my lqg had a modern block flip meeting. We brought blocks that were traditional and we flipped them to be more modern.  I brought different blocks and in the end only played with a few of them with other guild members.  I had in mind a few blocks I started in a BOM a few years ago.  These blocks were 12.5" and simple traditional shapes made as BOM for Blossom Heart Quilts HST Modern Sampler. (2016) My fabric choices were not great. I wanted to use the hand dyes I had made and I found this gray triangle fabric in a large enough quantity to go with the dyed fabrics. However, the fabrics all looked muddy and the values were too close. Also ...

Like many of you, I have been sewing masks.  We have so many places asking for masks that it is hard not to stop what you are doing and sew them if you can. I knew that I had enough supplies already to make a few so it was just a matter of digging through everything.  You know what happens when you dig through everything? You find things you forgot about. I didn't dig far when I came across lots of UFO projects. While mask fabric was washing I organized a few of the ufo's to see what needed to be done. I was able to finish several smaller quilts I had in the pile just waiting for sandwiching and quilting.  I realized that when I finished a couple I had a fence full. I decided on a semi- nice day before guild virtual sew day (the sat. before Easter) I would take a quilt show pic.  I will post more about a couple of the UFO's later. Some of these I have already blogged about last month.  My fence faces a park so anyone driving into the park goes ...

My goal for National Quilting day this year, since the International Quilt Museum festivities here in Lincoln were cancelled, was to quilt this baby quilt.  The blocks are leftovers from another quilt I made for this ones big brother. (I have a 2 week old great nephew to get to now) :) It measures 53" x 53" I did a diagonal crosshatch because the blocks and the borders I put on the corners made it sort of stretchy.  I started marking the lines on Saturday morning with the hera marker. So easy to use and no messy marks to wash out. One of my favorite tools.  It came out all nice and crinkly after the wash. Only a tiny bit of red came out on the color catcher and no bleed into all that white or other colors.  Set with white vinegar rinse.  If found this cute 'dream big' fabric with hot air balloons on for the back.  Another bright spot in the icky looking landscape of my back yard.  linking up with  L...